Trinity put beautiful face on Relay for Life

Ellen Sussman

By Ellen Sussman

Special to the Sahuarita Sun

As a 12-year volunteer, participant and activist with the Race for the Cure, this year I decided to stay closer to home and support the local Relay for Life, now in its third year locally and 25th year nationally.

With teams and participants filling the athletic field at Sahuarita High School on Saturday, the event was a memorial to those who have succumbed to cancer; it was also a tribute and beacon of hope for survivors and those going through treatment.

I was thrilled when event chair Sid La France read aloud numbers comparing the 2008 Relay to this one. It grew from 15 teams to 40, 200 participants to 498, 25 survivors to 75, and a committee of five grew to 24 —- nine of whom are cancer survivors.

“Team Development Captain Pat Howard is the largest reason we have 40 teams this year,” he told the crowd, which responded with applause and a cheer.

After each of the 75 announced how many years they have been survivors, the total was tallied and La France announced that collectively they had 450 survivorship years.

Survivor speaker and Green Valley Fire District Battalion Chief Chuck Wunder spoke with humor and honesty and told how he found joy in life after being diagnosed with cancer in 2004. He told about the generosity and selflessness of those who helped him and others like him and said.

“Cancer is not an easy walk,” he said. “Today we’re celebrating the brave walk you’ve taken.”

As the group of survivors gathered behind a large purple Relay for Life banner, ready to be led around the athletic field by a Sahuarita Police Department vehicle driven by Officer Jennifer Moreno, I noticed a little girl wearing a hat behind the banner.

To me, she became the story.

Tribute to Trinity

Six-year-old Trinity Hungerford was diagnosed in January with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Having no symptoms other than a lump on her upper thigh, the quick diagnosis got her treatment when the cancer was at Stage I.

She walked around the athletic field with her first-grade teacher Raye Nelson from Anza Trail School, her two grandmothers and 4-year-old brother, Jared. Trinity’s dad, Tim, was busy taking photos of his brave little girl.

Cheering for the mostly-senior survivors came natural, but seeing a 6-year-old having to endure difficult treatment and the harsh side effects gripped at my heart.

“Life is filled with challenges; this is one of them,” Trinity’s dad told me. “She’s handling it better than her dad... she’s unbelievably able to deal with this.”

He spoke about a recent day when she had treatment and became very sick. At home, when he was crying Trinity said to him, “Don’t cry, daddy; I’ll be better tomorrow.”

As a treat at the Relay, Trinity’s dad took her to have a beautiful butterfly painted on her sweet, wholesome face. Sickness aside, she enjoys the same pleasures as her friends, her dad said.

A poignant closing ceremony

At 8 p.m., a solemn and memorable luminaria event was held. With field lights turned off, paper bags filled with sand surrounded the entire track. Lighted with battery-powered lights, each luminaria was a memorial to someone who lost their life to cancer, an honor to a survivor who celebrates life every day or a message of hope and support to those now going through treatment.

In the darkness and quiet of a chilly evening ceremony, survivor speaker Trinan Verwys read the name of every person on the luminarias. Upon hearing the name, friends and family members popped a “glow stick” and quietly walked one final lap in memory, in honor and in support of those who have dealt with cancer.

The collective souls of the committees and participants who gave their time, energy, compassion and dollars and of the survivors who stood out in their purple t-shirts, are hopeful that target drugs designed to kill only cancer cells and not the cells that cause nausea, hair loss and other difficult side effects, will be available in the near future.

We won’t give up until there’s a cure for every kind of cancer.

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer in Sahuarita. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.

“Relay for Life”

All proceeds collected go to the American Cancer Society to fight all cancers.

The Green Valley-Sahuarita Relay had a goal of $25,000; they collected $35,895. The largest donor was Country Fair White Elephant with $10,000.

By 2015, the American Cancer Society is committed to lowering the number of people dying from cancer by half, reducing occurrence of cancer by 25 percent and improving the quality of life of all those affected by cancer.